Gokulashtami krishna janmashtami info

 Sri Krishna Jayanti festival

Gokulashtami krishna janmashtami festival, is an Indian festival celebrating the birth of the Lord Sri Krishna, the revered Hindu god.Krishna was born about 5200 years ago in the royal city of Mathura.

Gokulashtami is also known as Sri Krishna Jayanti, Krishnashtami, Saatam Aatham, Ashtami Rohini, Sree Jayanti. 

Gokulashtami is celebrated for two days. The first day is Krishnashtami or Gokulashtami. The second day is called Kalastami or more popularly, Janmashtami.

Krishna janmashtami, in 2025, is celebrated on August 15th, Friday and 16st, Saturday.

Sri krishna was the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu. He was the eighth son of Princess Devaki and her husband Vasudeva. He was from the Yadav clan.

Devaki's evil brother Kamsa (King of Mathura) was afraid of a prophecy that he will be killed by Devaki's eighth son.

Kamsa put Devaki and Vasudeva in the prison and killed their six babies as soon as they were born. As Krishna was born in the midnight, Lord Vishnu told Vasudeva to take Krishna to Gokul, in Vrindavan, where Nanda and Yashoda lived as it would be a safe place for Krishna.

Vasudeva crossed the overflowing Yamuna river. He left the baby Krishna with Yashoda and brought back her daughter hoping that Kamsa will spare the baby girl.

But the evil Kamsa threw her on the stone to kill her. She rose into the air and warned Kamsa about his death and disappeared. Krishna grew up in Gokul among the cowherds with his brother Balaram.

There are many stories about the miracles happening around the baby Krishna and also about his antics.

Kamsa came to know about krishna and invited him to Mathura with the intention to kill him. The child Krishna went to Mathura and killed Kamsa. Krishna was born to eliminate evil king 'Kamsa' and show the right way to live life.

Mahabharat

Mahabharat is the Hindu epic which shows the fight between good and bad. Sri Krishna played a very important roll in it. The holy Hindu 'Bhagvad Gita' was told by Sri. Krishna to Arjuna, a Pandava warrior.

Bhagvad Gita

Bhagvad Gita is the Hindu holy scripture told by Sri Krishna to Arjuna, a warrier, on the battle field. Arjuna put his weapons down and refused to fight when he saw his relatives on the enemy side. Sri Krishna told him to do his duty of fighting evil without considering that he was fighting his relatives.

Bhagvad Gita tells how one should do one's duty, how a life should be lived without expecting the results of our action. Our attachment to the perishable body is the cause of many miseries in everybody's life.

How is janmashtami celebrated?

The first day is for fasting till the birth of Krishna. The second day, janmashtami or kalashtami is also known as 'Nandotsv'. 

People draw tiny footprints coming into the house to symbolize baby Sri Krishns's arrival. 

Competitions: 

Children are dressed as Krishna and Radha. Schools have a fancy dress competitions for kids dressed as Krishna and Radha. Both kids and the parents enjoy this dressing up. 

Dahi Handi: 

In the state of Maharashtra, Gokulashtami is celebrated in homes. There is also a social celebration where  kids as well as grown ups engage in the game of  "Dahi Handi". This is a sport to break earthen pots filled with dahi/curd/yogurt. This symbolizes Kid Krishna's habit/sport of stealing butter/curd from pots that people used to hang in earthen pots those days. Now these pots are hung at heights and are not easy to reach. People form human pyramids to reach the pot and break it. There are competitions among groups.  Now a days, these pots are filled with currency notes. 

Gokulashtami - Janmashtami Recipes

Food is a big part of any celebration. Many kinds of snacks are prepared to please Lord Sri Krishna

Visit Gokulashtami Special Recipes.